Communications and education correspondent

Former Liberal Party leader Malcolm Turnbull remains more popular than Prime Minister Tony Abbott almost six months after the Coalition came to power, a new national opinion poll shows.

The UMR Research poll of 1000 people, commissioned by the Australian Education Union, also carries bad news for Education Minister Christopher Pyne's personal popularity and policy agenda.

Forty-two per cent of voters rated Mr Turnbull's performance positively compared to 30 per cent who rated him negatively - a net 20 percentage point advantage over Mr Abbott.

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Joe Hockey was also more popular than Mr Abbott, with 39 per cent rating the Treasurer's performance positively and 37 per cent negatively. Forty-six per cent of respondents had a negative view of Mr Abbott's performance, compared with 38 per cent with a positive view. Mr Pyne was the least popular of the four; only 30 per cent approved of his performance while 43 per cent disapproved.

When voters were asked to give the men a score out of 10, Mr Turnbull, who is Communications Minister, received an average score of 5.2. Mr Hockey received 4.8, Mr Abbott 4.3, and Mr Pyne 4.1. The Abbott government received an average score of 4.4.

The poll found that 63 per cent of voters believed the Abbott government should fund the Gonski schools package in full for six years while 37 per cent said that would be unaffordable. The government has committed to only four full years of Gonski funding.

Seventy-five per cent of people said the public school system needed more funding, compared with 28 per cent who said the private school sector needed more funding. Forty-seven per cent of respondents said the level of funding for public schools was too low and only 1 per cent said it was too high. Thirty-seven per cent said the funding for private schools was too high while 7 per cent said it was too low.

The poll found 47 per cent of people believed Opposition Leader Bill Shorten would prioritise investing in public schools in their area, compared with 27 per cent for Mr Abbott. Fifty-seven per cent believed Mr Abbott would prioritise elite private schools compared to 10 per cent for Mr Shorten. Forty-nine per cent said Mr Abbott would prioritise Catholic schools, compared with 17 per cent for Mr Shorten.

"This is further evidence to show it's time for the prime minister to get in step with the community on education, and back the full six years of Gonski for every state and territory," AEU president Angelo Gavrielatos said.

Mr Pyne did not respond to requests for comment. The poll, taken January 22-27, had a margin of error of 3.1 per cent.

Labor-lite - also known as Malcolm "Godwin Grech" Turnball. Keep lobbying there guys, good luck with that!

Commenter

Don

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

February 21, 2014, 6:30AM

Turnbull should just join the Labor party and be done with it. It seems as every Laborite I've ever met 'loves' Turnbull. And let's face it, the Labor party is a bit short on leadership at the moment, so it could be a really good fit. Meanwhile, this would leave Tony Abbott to get on with doing the great job that he's doing for the LNP.